GENESEO, N.Y. - SUNY Geneseo junior right winger Tyler Brickler scored two goals to lead the Knights past visiting Morrisville, 6-3, in the season-opener for both squads in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) ice hockey action, Friday night.

"For our first game, I'm satisfied with the way we played tonight," said head coach Chris Schultz. "There were things we did well and I'll take the win, but there were also things we need to learn from and improve on going forward."

Geneseo sophomore defenseman Matt Solomon scored the first goal of the season on the power play at 12:34 off assists from sophomore defenseman Nate Brown and junior left winger Justin Scharfe, before Morrisville tied it three minutes later with a power play goal of their own at 9:34.

Brickler's first goal came less than 40 seconds later, off an assist from first-year left winger Stephen Collins, to put the Knights back up, 2-1, with 8:57 remaining in the opening period. Four minutes later, senior left winger Garry Childerhose took a pass from sophomore center Brent Bisdee and gave the Knights a two-goal edge on a four-versus-four opportunity at 4:57 as Geneseo took a 3-1 edge into the first intermission lockerroom.

The Knights tallied again less than two minutes into the second period, as Brickler scored on the power play off assists from Solomon and Scharfe at the 18:48 mark to account for the only goal of the second. 

Morrisville's Ryan Marcuz netted his second tally of the night 18 seconds into the the third period, before Geneseo senior center Zachary Vit answered with a power play goal off assists from junior defenseman Jack Caradonna and junior right winger Ryan Stanimir at the 11:14 mark to put the Knights back up by three, 5-2.

Morrisville scored a power play goal with under seven minutes remaining to make it a two goal game, but Geneseo would hold off the Mustangs' comeback bid and add an empty-net goal by Stanimir with 19 seconds on the clock to seal the win.

Knights' junior goalkeeper Bryan Haude was credited with 23 saves to pick up the victory, whle Morrisville's Christopher Azzano made 36 stops in the loss.

Geneseo will host Morrisville for the second leg of the weekend double-header on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.